"How could you, Sirius!" Peter cried. "Lily and James! You're best friends!" Before Sirius could place his hands around his old friend's throat like he so very much wanted to, Peter took out a knife, cut off his ring-finger on his left hand, exploded a pipe below their feet which resulted in the death of thirteen innocent muggles, and turned himself into a rat before dashing into the sewer. It had all happened so fast and Sirius didn't even have a chance to think about what had happened.

He had been wrong this entire time. It hadn't been Moony. It was Peter. Whenever they had become anamagia at Hogwarts, Sirius had always teased Peter about becoming a rat. He thought that he was a rat because they were small and easy to turn into. Now he realized that he was wrong. Peter was a rat. Even when he was still human, Peter was a rat and he always would be. It was so fitting for his personality. Peter was a rat. Sirius actually had a few other words he could have used to describe Peter, but those were the type of words that Lily would not have approved of. Thinking of Lily was too painful.

Suddenly, there were aurors surrounding him. Sirius didn't understand why, since he was the only one who knew of Peter's betrayal, but then he realized that everyone would have thought that it was he, Sirius Black, who had betrayed his best friends, who'd he'd willingly have died for, and not the rat, Peter Pettigrew. It was too much for him. The fact that Peter was a rat through and through. The fact that everyone one else in the entire world was stupid enough to think that he would have betrayed Lily and Prongs. The fact that his godson, Harry, went to go live with Lily's evil sister who hated her almost as much as Sirius currently hated Peter. To most people, this would have been enough to make someone cry until it was physically impossible to continue crying, but to Sirius Black, someone who had been had been emotionally strained for too long, this was funny. At first he smiled and then he laughed. It was a wild and crazy laugh. It was the type of laugh that scared everyone who heard it, even Sirius.

Eventually, one of the braver aurors stepped forward. Sirius raised his hands in surrendor. It didn't actually matter, someone, Dumbledor, or Moony, would vouch for him and he would get off. The trials were always very fair. Two aurors practically dragged him along, even though he was cooperating. They both seemed surprised at this, but they still kept their guards up.

Sirius continued to laugh, until he realized that he was not going to get a trial. Moony was not going to vouch for him. It was then that he knew he was going to get Peter someday.

Years later, or maybe only a few days later, he saw that rat again. Cornelius Fudge was touring Azkaban. He had a copy of The Daily Prophet. There was a picture of a giant red-haired family. There were, at least, seven children in the picture. Six of them were boys and there was only one girl. Sirius didn't bother to count. What caught his attention was the youngest boy's pet rat. It wasn't just a rat, but The Rat. Peter. "Are you finished with your paper?" he asked trying to sound as bored as possible.

Fudge looked surprised. "Um, yes."

"May I see it? I miss doing the crossword puzzle," he invented.

Looking confused, Fudge handed him the paper.

"Thank you," he said reading the article on the front. That night, he fell asleep thinking of getting his hands on the rat. "He's at Hogwarts…." He mumbled.